Kidnappers device yahoo chat as new method

….â€œI did it because I needed money to abort my girlfriendâ€™s pregnancy…leader of the gangâ€

By Evelyn Usman

Are you an ardent user of theÂ Yahoo Messenger chat? Then you have to be careful because some unscrupulous individuals have devised this means to kidnap unsuspecting persons and also perpetrate heinous crimes.

The discovery,Â followed the arrest of three persons by the Ogun State Police Command, Monday,Â in connection with the kidnap of a teenager .

The sixteen year old lad, Opeyemi OlabodeÂ was rescued in an undisclosed apartment in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital , miles away from his parentâ€™s Ogijo, Ogun state home.

Surprisingly, the victim, confessed to have come across the female abductor during a chat on Yahoo messenger, a relationship that later blossomed into a love tangle, which unknown to him, was only a bait to achieve a sinister motive.

Like most persons in love, sixteen year-old Opeyemi who just finished his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) and currently undergoing a private coaching in the on-going General Certificate Examination (GCE), in Ikorodu area of Lagos,Â revealedÂ his familyâ€™s richÂ backgroundÂ to a lady he knew next to nothing about.

A meeting with this mystery lady thatÂ swept the lad off his feet was fixed and instead of the envisaged romantic mood, it turned out to be Opeyemiâ€™s greatest mistake, on realizing that he had actually walked into the den of
kidnappers.

In this interview with Crime Guard, OpeyemiÂ still wore a surprised look , as he still found it difficult to believe the whole scenario.

Said he: â€œI got to know this lady (pointing to Omowunmi Adepoju) while chatting on Yahoo Messenger. But I never knew IÂ was walking in the valley of theÂ shadow of abduction. After chatting with her for a month, I decided to meet her in person . By then I had already disclosed my personal data to her, unaware of her sinister motive .Â I invited her over to meet me at my coaching class and that turned out to be my greatest undoing, as two other persons who turned out to be kidnappers accompanied her.

They asked me to follow them to an unknown place which I obediently did . We then boarded a commercial bus to an area in Abeokuta where some chemical was sprayed inside the room and I became drowsy and fell asleep .

At each point , IÂ woke up, I will be too tired to even stand up. I understand I was kept there for three weeks because I lost count of the number of days I spent there. During my stay, I was been fed with sumptuous meal anytime I
demanded for it. I only realized I wasÂ in danger after I was rescuedâ€ stated Opeyemi.

While Opeyemi was held hostage, his abductors, as gathered, collected his phone , where they succeeded in locating his father and subsequently put a call across, informing him of their action and demanding the sum of N5 Million , with a threat to kill Opeyemi if their demand was not met. But fate had another bargain for the trio of Babatunde Ayoola, Omowunmi Adepoju and Olaitan Edu, as they were rounded up by policemen while on the
verge of withdrawing the amount from a bank in Ibadan , Oyo state on Monday.

The mastermind of the kidnap, 24-year-oldÂ Babatunde Ayoola, said he needed part of the money to procure an abortion for Omowunm, his girlfriend and member of the gang,Â who is three months pregnant.

Stated he, â€œ I never meant to do Opeyemi any harm. I only needed the money to procure an abortion forÂ Omowunmi, my girlfriend , who is three months pregnant for me. I have no money to take care of my health because I am asthmatic and Omowunmi is from a poor home. So, I decided to use her as a bait to get any rich guy on the internet. So, one of those days, she came in contact with Opeyemi during a chat on Yahoo Messenger.

When Opeyemi revealed his wealthy background to her, I became more interested. But at a point, I noticed Omowunmi was beginning to like Opeyemi and from that point, I took over the chatting while Opeyemi thought it was Omoyemi, I also monitored every of her conversation with him . He was so much in love with Omowunmi that he invited her over to his coaching class in Ikorodu Zenith Academy, that was on Thursday,Â November 12, 2009 and I went with her in the company of Olaitan..

â€œWhen we got there at about 2.30pm , I introduced myself as Omowunmiâ€™s elder brother.Â I jokingly collected his phone from him while I told him to follow me to where Omowunmi was waiting for him. It was from thee thatÂ we
lured him into entering a commercial bus to where he was kept.

We did not use any charm on him, he only fell for the trap because he was in love. We asked him to give us his fatherâ€™s ATM pin number but he refused. We later put a call through to his father demanding for the sum of N5 Million as ransom. He pleaded and asked me to give him my account number which I did.

ARRESTED AT LAST
I was so stupid to have given him my account number. I guess it was because I am not a professional . but all the

same , I went to the Ibadan branch of SKY bank to withdraw the money after Opeyemiâ€™s father informed us that he had paid in the money. I tried using my ATM but was informed it had beenÂ disabled. Together we decided to go and lodge the complain at the counter. We were asked to wait for a while unknown to us, they had arranged for the Police to come get us. That was how we sold ourselves awayâ€

The suspects were subsequently arrested by policemen from Ogijo division, Ogun state, from where they were transferred to the state Criminal Investigations Department, Elewe -Eran, for further investigation.